Anti-stigma campaign continues

On World Red Cross Red Crescent Day 2003
the second phase of "The truth about AIDS"
anti-stigma campaign was launched. The campaign, which
fights HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, has
now developed a series of designs to counter myths and
misconceptions about HIV/AIDS transmission.

"You cannot get AIDS by… being a friend",
"You cannot get AIDS by…holding hands"
and "You cannot get AIDS by… talking to someone"
are a few of the messages that can be found on these
designs which are available in poster or stamp format.

To mark the launch of the new stamp campaign, National
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies across the world
organized events to raise awareness about the campaign.

Red
Cross youth in Europefocus on HIV/AIDS and discrimination

Youth representatives from 44 National Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies gathered at the Italian Red
Cross Training Centre in Jesolo Lido, 40 km from Venice for
the biennial European Cooperation Meeting (ECM), a pan-European
event that has been going strong since 1992.

The main themes of the meeting reflect the topics discussed
at the sixth European Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference,
which took place in Berlin in 2002: health and care in the
community, and migration. Within these broad areas, the meeting
focused on HIV/AIDS and tolerance — issues of particular
interest and relevance to young people in Europe. Other invited
organizations, such as Young Positive, Villa Maraini, Reach
Out and European Youth Forum, also participated in workshops.

Participants, who include youth representatives from other
parts of the world, also had the chance on Saturday 28 June
to take part in the annual torchlight Fiaccolata procession,
which commemorates the historical route taken in June 1859
by wounded soldiers from the battle of Solferino to Castiglione.

It was at the battle of Solferino that the young Henry Dunant
organized volunteers to assist the wounded and dying and sowed
the seeds for the creation of the Red Cross.

"This was quite an inspiring experience for the young
people who are shaping the present and the future of National
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies," said the International
Federation's youth officer, Roberta Zuchegna.

The youth representatives elected a new European Coordination
Committee that will ensure the continuity of the work until
the next ECM in 2005. The members of the new committee are
Katarina Bivald (Sweden), Ieva Brinkmane (Latvia), Andriy
Budnyk (Ukraine), Frederike de Graaf (Netherlands), Claire
Schocher (Austria), Marcel Stefanik (Slovakia) and Signe Winding
(Denmark). These members have the mandate to follow up the
outcomes of the meeting and organize ECM 2005. More information
on the committee can be found at www.ifrc.org/youth/ecc

A
new member to the Geneva Conventions

On 8 May 2003, less than a year after independence,
Timor-Leste has deposited with the Swiss government the instrument
of accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. This
makes Timor-Leste the 191st state party to these treaties,
which form the core of international humanitarian law. Meanwhile,
the ICRC and the International Federation continue to support
the setting up of a Red Cross Society in Timor-Leste.

An
uneasy calm in Liberia

The situation in Liberia remains unstable,
despite the 19 August agreement on the country's political
future. Thousands of civilians fled as fresh fighting broke
out near Liberia's second city of Buchanan on 23 August and
several thousand people arrived in haste at the camps for
the displaced north of Monrovia after fleeing fighting in
the town of Gbatala, about 100 kilometres north of the capital.

Relief supplies — food and non-food items — were
flown in by the ICRC, the British Red Cross and the Norwegian
Red Cross. The ICRC, which works closely with the Liberian
Red Cross, has more than 300 staff in Liberian and is expanding
its operations outside Monrovia, reaching areas that had been
off limits for a long time.

Press
Award in Monte Carlo

As part of the 43rd Monte Carlo Television Festival
(Monaco, 30 June-5 July), the ICRC has created a new press
award. The prize is awarded to the documentary or report that
best promotes the principles of international humanitarian
law through coverage of a current armed conflict from the
perspective of the victims. Indeed, the manner in which the
effects of armed conflict are often portrayed in the media
is increasingly characterized by the speed of information
and a surfeit of images that tend to trivialize the suffering
of the victims.

Thirty-five productions from some 15 countries were nominated
for the award. The prize was won by Kenya: White Terror, a
film from BBC2 directed by Gisèle Portenier and John
McGhie. Jean Bonvin, ICRC vice-president, and His Royal Highness
Prince Albert of Monaco, president of the Monaco Red Cross,
presented the first prize to the winning team, which will
be invited by the ICRC to film its operations to protect and
assist the victims of one of the numerous forgotten conflicts
around the world.